Drip, Drop! The Rain Won’t Stop! is a “Your Turn, My Turn Reader” by Playskool. In other words, the idea is for parent and child to take turns reading – some pages have grown-up-level words, and others have early-reader text. This is a great idea if you have a child who can manage words like “falling” and “pitter patter”. If not, it’s still a very fun book. The text has lots of rhythm and rhyme, great rainy-day sound effects, and is generally fun to read aloud. If your child gets restless with the story, there are 10 rainbows hidden in the book, so you can go on a rainbow-hunt for a change of pace.

From a parent’s point of view, it’s a good story to read as well. Digger and his friend Go Go really, really want to build a sand castle, but they’re stuck inside by a never-ending rainstorm. Instead, they do a very good job of entertaining themselves by coming up with creative ways to build castles indoors. At the end, they finally get to go out and build their sand castle – a very muddy one!

The big clouds have a plan. They’ll all gather together and make a big storm, to terrify the Earth. But gentle Little Cloud doesn’t want to be part of this group, and she certainly doesn’t want to scare anyone, so she goes off by herself. For a long time she’s very lonely, until one night Lady Wind visits her and takes her on a trip across the sky. They have to brave the big clouds terrible storm, but on the other side Lady Wind is able to show Little Cloud all the different things she can do and still be true to herself.

In other words, Little Cloud and Lady Wind is quite a complex book for children. There are themes of bullying, tenderness, individuality, and loneliness to deal with. Is it a *good* book for children? Although I found it a touch preachy at times, I can say it has gone over well in my house. Both my 5 year old and 3 year old have returned to it a number of times; that is usually a sign they’re working through some new idea, though so far they’ve been unable to discuss it much with me. Still, I’ve been able to take the story and elaborate various aspects of it, planting the seeds of new thoughts in their heads. I think this is a book I’ll want to return to a couple of times a year for quite some time, as I think the kids will get more out of it each time, as they grow.

From an artistry standpoint, Little Cloud and Lady Wind is very well done. The text is wonderfully descriptive, full of lush metaphors that could provide a worthwhile storytime discussion all on their own. The art is beautiful, combining simple lines and uncomplicated images in a way that evokes the cloud/mist/dream world in a way I can’t quite describe.